The third-generation iPod touch, launched last October, was widely rumored to come equipped with a camera like the one in the iPhone. However, the final product lacked the camera, much to the chagrin of prospective buyers. A teardown by iFixit revealed space to fit a low-end camera module similar to the video-only camera included in the fifth-gen iPod nano. We suspected that Apple preferred to wait until it could equip the touch with a camera comparable to the iPhone's—the thinner iPod touch simply had no room for such an advanced module.

The prototype shown by Tinh tế looks just like the third-gen iPod touch, and has a centered camera in the exact position it was expected. Wired noted that it is likely a design prototype for the third-gen iPod touch, and probably not what Apple is working on for the fourth-generation device expected this fall. That design would more likely be based on the fourth-gen iPhone, though Wired also noted that keeping the same design could help Apple keep costs low and maintain the $199 entry-level price.

The prototype itself is engraved with "DVT-1" which, as we learned with the fourth-gen iPhone, stands for "design verification test number one." The unit came in a plastic bag with a label marking various parts and their revision, which is common with device prototypes. (Engineers use the labels to identify which parts, often variations with different tolerances or designs, are being tested for effectiveness.) Another hint that this is an older prototype is that the device uses 35nm Samsung NAND; Samsung has since moved to a 30nm process for similar NAND chips.

The prototype runs some type of test version of iPhone OS 3.1, which includes a custom interface for performing various diagnostic tests. One of the tests is for the camera hardware, which Tinh tế verified works for video input.